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Henry Simmons
Henry Simmons was a major antagonist in Last of The Walking Dead. Having experienced the horrors of humanity and having been to the brink of sanity, he's become an unhinged and violent man. Although he spent several years working with Negan and the Saviors, he eventually leaves the group behind, and creates his own, making Arthur Saint his lieutenant. Biography Life before the apocalypse Born in Chicago, Illinois, Henry Simmons lived most of his life in the American Northeast. Much of his early life was spent on the outskirts of Chicago, living in crumbling and rundown homes that his family could barely afford. His father was a drunk, and would beat Henry and his brother, Michael, for nearly any reason, leading to Simmons to resent his father as he grew older. His mother, as he’d come to believe, was too scared of his father to leave him, and refused to admit that any love she’d once had for the man had died long ago. When Henry was seventeen, he’d found his father passed out in an alley behind their house, a needle stuck into his arm, lightly held in his father’s hand. While his father sat uselessly against the wooden fence behind their home, Henry berated him, all the pent-up anger and resentment for his father coming out all at once. As his father refused to look at him or even acknowledge he was even listening to what he was saying, Henry’s hands curled into fists, and he punched his father across the jaw, leading to the man to fall sideways, and for his head to collide with the concrete. His brother, who’d been inside their house, ran outside to find out what the commotion was, only to see their father collapsed onto the ground. As Michael began asking questions about what happened, Henry told him about the needles he’d found their father using, calling him ‘nothing but a fucking junkie’. Michael was horrified at what Henry had done to their father, but a silent agreement had formed between the two. They had to get away from this man. After everything he’d done, his treatment of their family, and wasting away all of their money on booze and drugs, they couldn’t stay here anymore. After a half-hour argument with their mother, they finally convinced her to leave him behind, and together, they packed up any belongings they could, and left their home behind. For three years, they moved from place to place, Henry dropping out of school to help support his mother. In the early months of 2010, they moved to the outskirts of Cleveland, Ohio, where Henry would become a construction worker. It was a difficult job, but it paid well enough to put bread on the table, while Michael applied to Ohio State, in hopes of getting a better career. Months pass, and summer was nearly over. In the waning days of September, Henry returned home after a long day of work, only to find out that his mother had hung herself, a letter was left open on their kitchen table nearby, a letter that’d been written by their father. Somehow he’d managed to find them, and sent her a letter, begging for her to come back. After everything that’d happened, all the abuse and drinking and drugs, the thought of him returning and taking her back must’ve been too much for her. In the end, she’d decided to take her own life. The worst part of it all was not that she killed herself - although, that’d left a deep hole in his heart, like a dagger that’d been plunged into it - it was that she wasn’t dead. Her body was turning gray, marks around her neck from the tug of the rope, but she was awake, as something else. Her eyes were milky white, something that he’d never seen before. Without a thought, he’d pulled out the knife he carried with him, and cut her down, hoping that meant that she was alright, but then she attacked him, trying to bite him on the neck. Confusion took over, then panic, and suddenly he found himself stabbing the only woman he’d ever loved, right in the stomach, but she kept coming. He kicked her back, knocking her into the kitchen table, his fight or flight instincts kicking in. He had no idea what he was doing, and before he even realized he was doing it, he plunged the knife into her skull, her eyes going wide for a fraction of a second before going even more lifeless than they were before. By the time Michael made it home, Henry was sitting across from her dead corpse, his back against the wall, while the bloodied knife remained in his grip. Life during the apocalypse For years after the apocalypse began, Michael and Henry traveled together, never staying in one place for too long. As the world deteriorated around them, so did Henry’s mental state. Having not been able to reach a safe zone before they closed themselves off, the two brothers were forced into roaming the wastelands. Their supplies began to run lower and lower, eventually having to resort to stealing them from other people. His brother despised that fact, but Henry insisted that it was the only they’d survive. One night, about five years into the apocalypse, everything changed. Their food supplies were depleted, leading to increased agitation and aggressive behavior from both brothers. As Henry’s stomach growled for food, he slowly realized that there was still some sort of food nearby, as much as he hated to admit it. He lunged at his brother with his knife, the two fighting viciously before Henry managed to slit his throat. As his brother bled out on the ground, Simmons immediately gets to work on carving him, cooking the meat over the fire. For a while, his mind was gone, replaced by an empty husk. Eat, sleep, drink, hunt, repeat. Before too long, he’d killed more humans than animals for food. Another five years go by, filled with horrors that he blocked out or joked off to himself, and those that he hunted. Eventually, he found himself coming across a large group, too large for him to pick off one by one. Only one thing mattered to him, and that was survival, and these guys appeared to have plenty of food to go around. Without hesitation, he approached the group, who introduced themselves as the Saviors. He hid away the darkest parts of himself in order to gain membership, all the killing, cannibalism, and even rape, just swept under the rug. For now, he would be someone else, someone who hadn’t lost their mind. Four years with the Saviors, and he’d climbed his way nearly to the top, just one peg down from the infamous Negan himself. He was proud of that fact, and how much power he held over the others. Being around other people again slowly helped him heal the mental wounds of being on his own, but he’d hardly changed the way he acted. People began to know him by his dark humour, and his willingness to do anything in order to execute whatever order he was given by Negan. People feared him, probably due to the fact his mental stability was more apparent than even Simmons realized. No one dared to speak out against him, however. They knew the punishment they would receive from the man if they did. Now, Simmons was tasked with robbing passing survivors in the Pittsburgh area, along with the hilariously incompetent Ben Paul, and a small group of men. Although Simmons would never do anything outright against Negan, he’d grown to despise the man and his rules with time, and having to deal with this little punk was beginning to become the final straw. For now, he’d focus on the task at hand, but he will deal with Negan. Some day. Soon. Spring, 2025 For years, Simmons worked as Negan's lieutenant, eventually leading him to being in charge of the tourist traps in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When two survivors escape from his grasp, he retreats back to the bridge leading out of town, formulating a plan with Negan to trap the tourists in the city. Though, despite their best efforts, they escape, and Pittsburgh is eventually abandoned in favor of returning back home to Paradise. While there, Simmons decides that he's had enough of being with the Saviors, and sneaks out a pair of Fireflies Bud had captured back in Pittsburgh in hopes of them leading him to the Fireflies, and the eventual cure. Though, when they get there, it becomes immediately clear that the Firefly base stationed at the University of Eastern Colorado was abandoned, and Simmons directs his fury towards Marcus and Sophia, the latter whom he kills and eats. Marcus, however, escapes. Winter, 2025 With months of work, Simmons has established his own community in the mountains of Colorado, and sends his lieutenant, Arthur Saint, and a contingent of men to scavenge for food in nearby towns, including the University of Eastern Colorado. While there, his lieutenant runs into a group of survivors snooping around in the science building, and Arthur captures one and brings him back to the town. Simmons interrogates Lee, though the survivor doesn't reveal anything to him as to why they were searching through the abandoned Firefly outpost. Later that day, Simmons runs into Ellie and Clementine, who he eventually captures to bring back to the town. During an 'interrogation', he questions Ellie, and cuts of Clementine's finger and Lee's hand when the redhead refuses to answer his questions truthfully. Ellie breaks free after Simmons unties her, and Simmons chases her through the town, eventually cornering her in a restaurant. There, Simmons hunts her down, while threatening Clementine to get the girl to come out. He reveals that he knows that Ellie is immune after she revealed earlier that she was infected, and goes on to say that he is thankful to her for showing up to allow him to finally get the cure for his people. The fight escalates when he threatens Clementine with his machete, which leads to Ellie rushing him. On the ground, and machete out of reach, Simmons tries to stop Ellie from fighting back, only to eventually meet his demise when she reaches the machete and kills him. Killed Victims This list shows the victims Simmons has killed: * Michael Simmons * Numerous counts of survivors * Brody (Savior) * Sophia Peletier * Clementine's finger * Lee's left hand Relationships Ellie While their interactions were brief, Simmons gained a respect for Ellie as she continued to resist him after he captured her and Clementine. When he finds out that she's immune, she becomes the most important thing to him, and keeping her captured to ensure they can get the cure from her become his utmost priority. Though, his obsession with her ends up leading to his downfall, where the girl carves up his face with his own machete after an extended confrontation. Marcus While Marcus and Simmons' first encounter ended amicably, leading to the two joining together to escape Paradise and set out to rejoin the Fireflies, any friendship that could've been forged between the two was severed the instant they made it to the supposed Fireflies base at the University of Eastern Colorado, where they find nothing but corpses and a hastily abandoned base. Enraged, Simmons murderers Marcus' companion, Sophia, and uses her for food. During the attack, Marcus managed to escape, leaving Simmons with the insatiable desire to hunt him down and kill him too. He never gets that chance, though, and Simmons still holds out hope that he'll someday cross paths with the man again. Trivia * Henry Simmons originated in TheDomdotCom's Telltale's The Walking Dead fanfiction titled Living In a World Of Fiction, where he serves as the primary antagonist for the story's 'Season 2'. While his character's backstory is significantly changed for Last of The Walking Dead, the two share a similar lifestyle, cannibalism and brutality being the key similarities. * Originally, Simmons was created as a reference to Negan, and was often compared to the Saviors' leader by reviewers. * Because of this, inserting him into the story of Last of The Walking Dead as Negan's lieutenant created a fun dynamic between two psychopaths, before Simmons leaves the Saviors in search of the cure, and to create his own group of bandits known as the 'Hunters'. * He likes to call people 'kid' a lot. * And 'Fucktard', that's also a favorite. * Don't take it personally. * A side-story focusing on Simmons's past is being written to be posted on Archive of Our Own and Fanfiction.net. (Still in development like two years later, Dot is a slow writer)